Journal: Eikon
Volume: EIKON 06:1 (Spring 2024)
Article: Side By Side: Complementarity In Ministry With Anne Dutton And George Whitefield
Author: Matthew D. Haste

Eikon 6.1 (Spring 2024) p. 102

Side By Side: Complementarity In Ministry With Anne Dutton And George Whitefield

Matthew Haste

Matthew D. Haste is Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality and Biblical Counseling, and Director of Professional Doctoral Studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Eikon 6.1 (Spring 2024) p. 103

George Whitefield (1714–1770) may have preached the good news of the gospel to more people than anyone before him in history, but on October 29, 1747, he had tragic news to report. From a small town in South Carolina, he penned a heartfelt letter to a dear friend, explaining that her husband’s ship had foundered at sea. There were no survivors. The subject of the letter was a Baptist pastor from rural England who was returning home after raising funds for his church through a preaching tour in the American colonies.1 The pastor’s wife, Anne Dutton (1692–1765), was now widowed for the second time. Dutton was a valuable contributor to Whitefield’s growing transatlantic network of evangelicals, so the itinerant preacher sought to comfort her, even inviting her to live with his family when they returned to England.2 Such an offer revealed the depth of their relationship and Whitefield’s personal concern for his friend, who had labored side by side with him in the gospel (cf. Phil. 4:2) in her own unique way.

While Whitefield’s contributions to the Evangelical Awakening are well known,3 Dutton is perhaps less familiar to modern readers, despite being one of the most published females of the eighteenth century.4 She authored more than fifty works and published hundreds of letters, demonstrating a combination of theological acumen, spiritual wisdom, and fervent piety that came to be appreciated on both sides of the Atlantic.5 How did a Baptist pastor’s wife in a remote English village contribute to the evangelistic labors of the most celebrated preacher of her day? This article briefly examines the ministry partnership of George Whitefield and Anne Dutton, noting how it proved to be intentional, consequential, and mutually beneficial.

An Intentional Partnership

Although Dutton believed she possessed a divine call to the

Eikon 6.1 (Spring 2024) p. 104

ministry of writing, she recognized the unique obstacles a female author faced in the eighteenth century.6 She p...